A Characterization of Social Networks for Effective Communication and Collaboration in Computing Education

Recently, the use of social networking has been transitioning from the recreational to more formal uses in corporate and educational contexts. As more businesses begin to adopt social networking as a means of communication and collaboration in the workplace, the effective use of social networks by students for formal communication (as opposed to recreational or informal) becomes an imperative skill for achieving efficiency and productivity. In this paper, we discuss our experience with different social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, and Google+) to engage learners in various computer science courses at Miami University. Based on our experience, we have categorized the strengths and weaknesses of using different social networks by looking at generic activities that happen within the workplace and then identifying how a particular social network feature supports the given activity. Specifically, our experience encompasses several different use cases including using status updates as a means for addressing technical issues, social tagging to mark areas of interest, and video teleconferencing for virtual office hours. Our observations reflect some interesting trends in academic achievement and student engagement which may have implications for future use of social networks in education and, in turn, in the workplace.